Growing Up as Black Men in Duluth
- Deyona Kirk
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
There is something quietly powerful about sitting across from men who have chosen to stay. In this episode of Divine Konversations, Kentaro Kirk, executive director at and Why Youth Services, and AC Kirk, youth specialist and self-described man of many trades, pull back the curtain on what it actually means to grow up Black in Duluth. One arrived from New Jersey by way of football and a fresh start. The other was born here, left, came back, and planted roots. Together, they trace a story that is as much about belonging as it is about survival.
The conversation opens with memory, and memory, it turns out, is instructive. Both men recall an era in education that felt more invested, more exploratory, a time when a trip to space camp or a writing competition at Saint Scholastica could crack a kid's world wide open. What they describe now is a quieter, more hands-off system, one where IEP placements have become a reflex rather than a last resort, and where the graduation rate at one Duluth high school sits at a sobering 56%. They are not lamenting the past so much as naming what has been lost and asking whether anyone else is paying attention.
What lives underneath so much of this conversation is generational trauma, and both men speak to it without flinching. They describe parents who love their children but are navigating their own unhealed wounds, households doing their best with what was passed down to them. AC shares the story of a mother with six kids who genuinely wanted to work but was trapped in a system that penalized her for earning more than $100 a month. "They put tulips on top of poison ivy," he says, and that image says more about structural harm than any policy document could.
Still, neither man stays in the weight of it for long. Because what gives this episode its heartbeat is hope, the kind that is earned and not borrowed. Kentaro speaks with visible pride about the partnerships his organization has built with juvenile courts, truancy boards, and school systems. He notes that over the last two years, 100% of the kids in their program have graduated. That number does not come from luck. It comes from showing up, being consistent, and refusing to let the kids who have already let themselves down believe that means they are done.
When the conversation turns to what they want BIPOC youth to actually hear, both men speak like they have been holding this back for a long time. Kentaro tells the kids: we are not going anywhere. Not when you disappoint us, not when you fall. "Don't ever think what you done will make us not love and care for you." AC adds something that sounds simple but is anything but: "you are a star, and you can do whatever you put your mind to, but you have to put real work behind it." And then Kentaro closes with something almost like a sermon: "Seek the truth. The truth about life, the world, and yourself. Aim high, even if you do not reach the goal, because what you gain from reaching will always be more than what you get from settling."
This episode is not a policy paper or a crisis report. It is two men who came up hard, found their way to Duluth, and decided that their story was worth passing on. In every story they share, every barrier they name, and every piece of advice they leave behind, there is a through line: Black children in this city deserve more than survival. They deserve to be seen, pushed, believed in, and never abandoned. And in rooms where that happens, something divine is already at work.
"When you walk in the room, act like you belong there. Because if you act like you belong there, they're going to treat you like you belong there."
⏱ Chapter Markers
00:00 – Why This Conversation Matters
00:56 – Meet Pez, Kantrelle, and A.C.
04:57 – School, Culture Shock, and Feeling Out of Place
10:57 – Identity, Exploration, and Internal Stories
21:15 – Confidence in Uncomfortable Rooms
27:23 – The Barriers Facing BIPOC Youth
40:02 – What Gives Us Hope
50:17 – A Message to the Youth
Weekly Reflection
Where in your life have you felt like you didn’t belong - and what would it look like to stand firm anyway?
What truth about yourself do you need to hold onto, even when the room feels uncomfortable?
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